Three stained glass windows of the Duke Chapel were broken April 27. As I understand it, they were broken in such a way as to indicate a level of planning higher than a simple act of vandalism. The campus as a whole should have been informed about this incident, and the administration should have taken action to condemn this desecration of the center of our beloved campus. The administration has been quick to email the student body about other forms of distressing aggression against groups of people, such as the anti-Jewish slogans painted on East Campus several years ago. Why have they not done so this time? While the Chapel is a Christian church, it also serves as the center of campus, reminding students to look beyond themselves as they pursue their dreams and education. Furthermore, it serves as a center for religious practice on campus, Christian and otherwise. To hear that it has suffered such desecration is heartbreaking and outrageous. Such violence against religion should not be tolerated on a campus that promotes diversity. The perpetrators have insulted not only Christianity by their actions, but all people who believe in a higher power and seek to follow the path they believe that power has laid out for them. It is my hope that the University would use this as an opportunity to engage its students in a discussion of the significance of religion in people’s lives, and the University would take actions to ensure that such a tragic event does not happen again.
Johanna Collins
Law School ’13 and Trinity ’09
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